MSD - Brisbane and Surrounding District - 17 October 2018

CUSTOMER SERVICE ADVICE FROM OPTUS

Delay due to severe weather in parts of the Southeast Coast District of Queensland.

Parts of the Southeast Coast District of Queensland was impacted by severe weather on or about Saturday 13 October 2018 through to Tuesday 16 October 2018. This event resulted in extensive damage to Optus’s telecommunications network.

An interruption to Optus normal operations has occurred leading to delays in installation and repair activities. As many as 1500 Optus services are impacted in the area bounded by and including, but not limited to, the area starting at Nudgee Beach following the coastline south past Wynnum and Cleveland to Runaway Bay turning southwest to Highland Park. From Highland Park the area heads west to the Nerang Conservation Park, southwest to Beechmont, south to the QLD/NSW border and following the border westerly to Mount Lindesay Highway. The area turns northwest to Merryvale, northeast to Willowbank, and east to Springfield Lakes then northeast to Inala. From Inala the area heads northwest to Mount Nebo, northeast to Albany Creek then southeast back to Nudgee Beach. All suburbs and towns, off shore islands and coastal areas serviced by Optus within these boundaries are encompassed in this exemption.

How will this affect you?
Unfortunately, your service may be affected and we may take longer than normal to fix telephone services or complete connections. Services in the area mentioned above with phone numbers in the following number ranges may have been affected:

We anticipate that the majority of services will be restored by 11 November 2018. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this delay may cause but we can assure you we are working hard to get things back on track.

What else do you need to know?
Information as to the nature of these severe weather events can be sourced from Weatherzone at www.weatherzone.com.au. Heavy rainfall is referred to within this site for 13 October 2018; all of which were widely reported in the news media after the events.

Due to this event, we’re claiming an exemption under section 21 of the Telecommunications (Customer Service Guarantee) Standard 2011, including an exemption from the payment of compensation between 17 October 2018 to 11 November 2018 inclusive for any delays in fixing or connecting services, and the keeping of appointments relating to these activities in the impacted area.

Need more information?
If you have any questions regarding your eligibility for a CSG payment under this notice, or wish to have us reconsider whether the circumstances were a proper basis for claiming an exemption, you can contact Optus on 13 39 37 – quoting CSG exemption reference number 17102018-QLD-E-C-P-BRISBANE AND SURROUNDING DISTRICT_RUNL.

You can also view a copy of this notice on our Internet site www.optus.com.au/msd

If, after calling Optus on the above number, you remain unsatisfied with our response to your query, you have the option of raising the matter with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO). Information on the TIO and contact details are available on the Internet (www.tio.com.au) and in the White Pages® telephone directory.